Interim Vs Consultancy

​When undertaking a significant acquisition, disposing of an asset, engaging in transformation or change, many businesses will head straight to the Big 4 to engage a long list of services. However, more businesses are realising that hiring an interim professional instead can be just as, if not more, beneficial to them. Not to mention it’ll cost about a third of the price of using a consultancy firm.

If you’ve not thought about using an interim specialist before, we have compared hiring an interim professional versus someone from a consultancy firm such as the Big 4.

Interim Professionals

True industry specialist with extensive transaction or programme delivery experience.

Available for deployment within 2-4 working days.

100% committed, ‘in-house’ leader focused on driving outcomes for the benefit of your business alone.

Double or more practical experience (in years) than an equivalent Big 4 secondee.

Often 1/3 or less than the cost of an equivalent Big 4 secondee.

Makes sure you get the ‘A team’ and the best possible delivery from external suppliers.

Highly spend conscious, ensuring only using additional services that are business critical, with no incentive to upsell further services.

Knowledge transfer plan and continued ad-hoc support.

Consultancy Firms

Has the support and benchmarking data from across similar projects.

Can take on and deliver large scale programmes using multiple resources to deliver large scale change.

Will deliver full transaction support services including due diligence with teams of analysts. Secondees may have prior knowledge of your business through previous assignments.

Costing model is built around the need to maintain a global infrastructure.

It’s worth noting that hiring an interim professional through Phipps Cameron will save you on average one third of the cost of engaging a consultancy firm.

HOW TO WORK OUT THE COST OF AN INTERIM HIRE

Interim cost is not an exact science. Niche skills, supply and demand and market conditions can all have a significant impact. Loosely the below can prove accurate when compared to permanent salaries;

Total charge = (total remuneration (base + all benefits) + 15% employers NI + recruiter fee)/ 230 days in the year.

We can give accurate quotes before engaging on all interim requirements.

We use our experience and in-depth knowledge to provide a comprehensive interim service for clients when they need to hire experts on a non-permanent basis across:

CFO & financial leadership

Corporate development and M&A

Strategy & transformation

We are also subject matter experts in IR35 and can discuss the implications and provide a solution for you to easily navigate the legislation.